IBM Releases Intel-Based eServer System

IBM Friday announced four new eServer systems based on the latest Intel technology. With this announcement, IBM becomes the first vendor to offer a single Intel server line that scales from one to 64 processors.

The eServer xSeries delivers the most powerful industry standard server system capable of processing a record 688,220 transactions per minute, offering over 36 percent more performance than the previous one.

IBM Friday announced four new eServer systems based on the latest Intel technology. With this announcement, IBM becomes the first vendor to offer a single Intel server line that scales from one to 64 processors.

IBM also announced support for Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. The product is designed to help customers test, install, deploy, and maintain highly available applications on an industry standard server framework. This move is another important step in IBM''s strategy of disseminating the company''s best technology throughout the IBM eServer line, including new services.

"With these new offerings, IBM is the only company in the industry to deliver one to 64 processors in its Intel server family," said Bill Colton, general manager, IBM eServer xSeries in a prepared statement.

"Customers looking to deploy industry standard data center solutions can now select from the industry''s most scalable, powerful line of servers to help build, run and manage their e-business infrastructure affordably and effectively," Colton added.

The eServer x430 is a 64-way server that with the new Intel 900 MHz Pentium III Xeon processor at its core. The server offers industry leading Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) architecture and I/O technologies. The x430 is optimized for the scalability, availability, and manageability requirements of large and rapidly growing e-infrastructures. Customers can simultaneously run different applications across multiple operating systems.

The x430 supports Linux via the Linux Application Environment and ptx. It will also support the latest edition of Windows Datacenter Server when that becomes available.

Other servers IBM announced today include the x250 and x350 (four processors) and the x370 (eight processors). All feature Intel''s 900 MHz Pentium III Xeon processors along with X-architecture mainframe inspired technologies, such as Light Path Diagnostics, IBM Director system management software, and Chipkill memory.

IBM also offers the eServer Capacity Advantage which enables customers to scale up or out on their systems, and increases their computing capability by adding additional processors or additional systems. It serves as a true "pay as you grow" option, offering enterprises the low-cost, industry-standard building blocks necessary to build their e-infrastructure.

Products that fall under the Capacity Advantage program are:

The x250, a high-performance, 4-way server designed for environments running critical applications subject to rapid growth, including corporate e-mail messaging and business analysis

The x350, a powerful 4-way enterprise server built for speed and reliability that is ideal for constrained data centers

The x370, a mission-critical, 8-way server modeled after its mainframe relative and capable of delivering extreme availability and performance to handle enterprise-level workloads

IBM''s announcement also featured various enterprise-level storage options, including internal LTO tape drives with the fastest throughput in the industry and internal SDLT tape drives offering the highest storage capacity per tape cartridge in the industry.